


Handmade

by Katiebug445



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day 2021, fight me, i'm back on my self indulgent shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29455677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiebug445/pseuds/Katiebug445
Summary: While he’d been out shopping for the holiday and decided to browse through the selection of cards, he found himself getting frustrated at them. They would have been fine, if he didn’t feel so much for Marco. They were well written and said very nice things in them, but nothing exactly fit, nothing sounded like it was coming from him specifically. There were some blank ones, but the designs on them weren’t exactly what he wanted. At the end of his nerves, as he was walking up to pay for his things and debated on trying another store, he ran across a flyer advertising a class that showed people how to make their own cards, and Cardina decided to take it.
Relationships: marco bodt/cardina baumeister
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Handmade

Holidays were Cardina’s favorite. He loved the festivities, decorations, excitement, and most of all, the different kinds of colorful treats that went on sale in preparation. His favorite had always been Valentine’s Day, because he was always given an excuse to give his friends all the affection he wanted and shower them with colorful gifts covered in hearts. 

It was even better now that he had someone special to share it with. Marco Bodt had been the main fixture in his life for three years, seven months, eleven days, and eight hours, and his joy of having an entire day to celebrate his love for him never diminished even a little bit. His heart always felt like it would burst the moment it hit February 1st, and the planning began. 

On the day of, he woke up at the first sign of dawn, pressing a kiss to Marco’s forehead before climbing out of bed, and went out to the kitchen. He knew from the last time he’d tried to bake that he wasn’t any good at it, but luckily Jean was kindhearted enough to bake him a few dozen cookies while he was preparing for his day with Armin. He had them now, and felt a rush of excitement shooting through him as he got started mixing up icing to decorate them with. 

They were simple, cut out sugar cookies, but he was so happy to get to make them up himself for he and Marco. An hour later, he had six bowls of icing ranging from deep red to lavender purple, and smiled to himself as he began to put it into piping bags. 

They’d gotten together and baked Christmas cookies for their friends the previous year, and Cardina discovered that while he couldn’t  _ bake,  _ he was excellent at  _ decorating.  _ With a huge smile, he got started, confidently spreading icing over all the cookies, not afraid to get a little adventurous with his designs, thought to himself the only way it could get better was if Marco was there with him. 

He’d looked up online different ways to do them, and he’d been eager to try it all out for awhile now. Some he outlined with one thin line of icing around the edges with a simple  _ M + C  _ in the center in white or red, some had zigzags of various colors across them, and then some he spread icing all over with another line of color across the top, and marbled them. Cardina was incredibly proud of himself by the time he was finished, hoping that Marco liked it as much as he did, then got started on his card. 

While he’d been out shopping for the holiday and decided to browse through the selection of cards, he found himself getting frustrated at them. They would have been fine, if he didn’t feel so  _ much  _ for Marco. They were well written and said very nice things in them, but nothing exactly  _ fit,  _ nothing sounded like it was coming from him specifically. There were some blank ones, but the designs on them weren’t exactly what he wanted. At the end of his nerves, as he was walking up to pay for his things and debated on trying another store, he ran across a flyer advertising a class that showed people how to make their own cards, and Cardina decided to take it. 

He’d made the card they were trying to, but in the end he decided it wasn’t  _ enough  _ for Marco, so he sent it to his best friends instead. He figured he had enough knowledge that he could do his own thing, so while the icing hardened on the cookies, he set them aside and broke out all of his cardstock and scissors and glue. 

He pulled his hair back into a ponytail to keep it off his face and got started, his heart bursting with the thought of what he was going to write inside once he’d finished up. His thoughts centered around what those words would be as he cut and glued and coated in glitter, refining it again and again until it was as perfect as he could get it. Words were always easy for him, except when it came to the love of his life. Nothing he said ever felt like it truly expressed the joy that Marco had brought into his life, how he’d saved him from a marriage that he had no interest in, and showed him that true love really existed in the form of a tall, freckle-faced man with the biggest heart out of anyone he’d ever met. 

Cardina was so wrapped up in what he was doing, he didn’t hear the footsteps coming down the stairs, or bad into the kitchen, and only realized he wasn’t alone when he felt two hands gently rest on his shoulders. Cardina jumped, dumping glitter all over himself and the table in the process. “Marco!” He gasped, quickly turning and looking up at the other man, his light blue eyes wide in surprise. “Don’t look! I’m not finished yet! What are you doing awake?” 

Marco just smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of his head before sitting down in the chair next to him, and let his eyes wander to the dozens of cookies that were still hardening. “The bed was too cold without you.” He murmured tiredly. “I went to hold you and you weren’t there, so I figured you were probably up doing something.” He admitted. 

“Oh.” Cardina blushed, his eyes falling to his glitter-covered arms and torso, and knew that would be a mess and a half to clean up later, and that a year from then, they’d still be finding individual pieces of glitter on the floor and on his clothes. “But it’s not a surprise now.” 

“It’s still a surprise.” Marco insisted, glancing at the card in his boyfriend’s hand. “I wasn’t expecting any of this when I woke up.” 

A piece of hair slipped from Cardina’s ponytail and bobbed back into place by his face, and he absentmindedly tucked it back. “I wanted to wake you up with all of this, though....” He admitted sadly. 

Marco’s face softened when he heard that, and reached over, laying his hand gently on Cardina’s arm and giving him a love-filled smile when he looked up. “How about this: I’ll call Jean in a little while and see if he can make up a couple more dozen cookies, and I’ll make you a card out of all the stuff you don’t use, and we’ll have some fun with it? That sounds perfect to me.” 

Cardina’s heart fluttered as the warmth from Marco’s hand heated him up, and he laid his other one on top of it, squeezing gently. “I think that sounds wonderful.” He said happily. 

  
  


~ 

Two hours later, Marco was calling Jean, asking for a few more dozen cookies, and Cardina laughed when he heard their friend yelling through the phone. “I’m not running a shop over here!” Jean shouted. “You need to learn how to make your own shit from now on!” 

“Thank you.” Marco laughed, knowing Jean too well to know he wasn’t really mad at them, not when it gave him an excuse to cook,  _ especially  _ if he got to cook with Armin. 

“You’re welcome.” Jean muttered before hanging up, and Marco chuckled to himself as he set his phone down and turned back to Cardina. “So while that’s being taken care of, why don’t we get on making these cards?” He suggested, walking up to him and taking his hands. “I didn’t know you learned how to do this…” 

“I took a class last week.” Cardina admitted, blushing a little at Marco’s closeness. Three years together and it still never failed to fluster him when Marco was near him. “I know at least the basics now.” 

Marco looked at him with adoration clear in his eyes, his brown eyes soft and his lips curled into the most beautiful smile imaginable. “You’re so amazing. Have I told you that lately?” 

“A few times.” Cardina hummed, leaning in and pressing a kiss to the tip of Marco’s nose. “It never hurts to hear it again, though.” 

“Well, you’re amazing.” Marco murmured, giving him a quick kiss on the mouth. “You’ll have to show me how to do this.” 

Taking his hand, Cardina led Marco back to the table and sat him down, nervously explaining everything he learned and watching him carefully as he got started. He beamed, though, when he saw how quickly he picked up on it, and leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re a natural.” He praised. 

“I just have a great teacher.”

“Hardly.” 

Marco shook his head at that, and just turned back to his project, happy that Cardina was letting him be included. He loved doing things like this with him, the sweet domestic holiday things that couples usually did. It was such a simple little happiness, but they were his absolute favorites, when he would look over and see Cardina smiling and just enjoying himself. There was nothing more rewarding than that smile. 

Being half done with his card by the time Marco came out, Cardina put the finishing touches on it, then moved a bit further away from him as he put pen to paper and began writing out his message for him. 

He was surprised to find himself choking up as he wrote out those words, every letter making his feelings more and more real. When he finally finished, he turned to Marco and held it close to him, getting even more glitter on it than he would have liked, and swallowed. “Um… would you like to read your card now?” He asked nervously.

Marco immediately set his own down and held out his hand for it, eager to read it and find out what Cardina had written that was so secretive. “Of course.” 

“Okay.” 

Marco took it from him and looked down at the words written in Cardina’s excellent penmanship scrawled across the front of it. 

_ What is a soulmate?  _ It read, and continued on the inside:  _ A soulmate is someone that you can take one look at and know that is where your heart will call home for the rest of your life. They’re the person that wakes up all of the hidden places inside of you that you weren’t sure were still there. They’re joy, they’re love, they’re the most pure form of happiness you will ever find. They’re every good thing you can think of and then some.  _

_ But they’re also so much more than that. They’re the arms that hold you on awful nights. The hands that stroke your hair when you cry, the lips that kiss the tears away. They’re the things you want to fight for when everything seems impossible, when you’re at your lowest point and want to quit. They’re your hope when you have none, your sunshine, your sunflower when there  _ is  _ no sun, shining on you until it comes back out again.  _

_ They’re your savior from a life that you were forced into and did not want. They’re the thing that finally let you accept yourself for who you are, and not be ashamed of it any longer. They’re the voice that promises it’s okay to love, and accept that love in return, and that it’s completely okay to.  _

_ A soulmate is you. My Marco. My heart. You saved my life, you brought me true happiness for the first time in my life, and I can’t ever repay you for it, but I’ll keep trying for the rest of my life.  _

_ Yours forever,  _

_ Cardina.  _

Marco took a breath when he finished reading and set the card down, wordlessly pulling Cardina in for a tight hug and burying his face in his neck. “You’re my heart, too.” He breathed. “You’re all of those things and then some for me, too.” 

Cardina squeezed him back, pressing soft kisses all over the side of his face, and felt like his heart was going to burst with the joy he felt at having Marco’s love, and being able to tell him all of the things he truly felt, when he couldn’t say them out loud.


End file.
